Cain confronts more allegations

Herman Cain sought to refocus on policy Wednesday but his plan quickly went out the window as the day brought a series of new allegations about inappropriate behavior.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a third woman experienced behavior by Cain that made her uncomfortable and considered filing a complaint but ultimately did not.

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That report, coupled with the revelation from veteran Republican pollster and former National Restaurant Association employee Chris Wilson that Cain sexually harassed a woman at an Arlington, Va., restaurant in the late 1990s, quickly overcame Cain’s efforts to keep the day limited to discussions of health care policy.

Wilson, now the principal of an Oklahoma-based GOP consulting firm, told Oklahoma City’s KTOK radio station that the episode took place in the neighborhood where Cain kept an apartment when he headed the restaurant trade group. Wilson declined to say specifically what Cain said or did to the woman, but said that the CEO’s actions made other individuals at the table uneasy.

“It was very uncomfortable,” the pollster told POLITICO, recalling that other individuals present asked Cain to stop.

Wilson is a Rick Perry supporter and does polling for a super PAC that supports the Texas governor’s presidential bid.

Steve Deace, an influential conservative talk radio host who hosts a nationally syndicated show in Des Moines, Iowa, also accused Cain of saying “awkward” and “inappropriate” things to his staff.

The Cain campaign responded forcefully, accusing the Perry campaign of orchestrating the allegations. In an interview with Forbes, Cain accused another Perry supporter, Curt Anderson, of leaking the damaging revelations of the original accusations. Anderson, a consultant on Cain’s losing 2004 Senate bid, swiftly denied that charge.

“I’d never heard any of these allegations until I read them in POLITICO, nor does anything I read in the press change my opinion that Herman is an upstanding man and a gentleman,” Anderson told POLITICO.

But Cain repeated the charge in a tele-town hall event with TheTeaParty.net. “We’ve been able to trace it back to the Perry campaign that stirred this up in order to discredit me. … Members of his campaign have direct ties with POLITICO, members of his campaign, people that are supporting him have made erroneous claims against me,” he said.

In another development, the National Restaurant Association released a statement Wednesday indicating it has been in contact with the attorney for another of Cain’s accusers, who was considering speaking out if she could negotiate a release from an earlier confidentiality agreement.

“Attorney Joel Bennett contacted the National Restaurant Association this morning. An association representative promptly returned his call and asked Mr. Bennett to contact the association’s outside counsel. Mr. Bennett indicated that he would do so tomorrow, after he met with his client,” said Sue Hensley, senior vice president for the National Restaurant Association.